Themes · Along the border
Allied protests
Shootings and incidents that drew formal protests from the Western Allies, including bullets landing in West Berlin.
9 events: 1 partly successful escape and 8 failed attempts. At least 2 people reached the West in these events. The records span 1969–1989. Methods: over the wall 7, driving through 1, swimming 1.
Often together with: Shots fired (8), US Mission telegrams (5), Wounded and injured (2)
24 November 1969
Two men shot trying to reach the American sector on one day
On 24 November 1969 East German guards shot two men in separate attempts to cross into West Berlin's American sector: a border guard trying to scale the Wall, and a youth fired on with a machine gun in the fortified strip.
26 September 1971
Man shot halfway across the Wall; bullets hit a West Berlin house
Early on 26 September 1971 guards shot and apparently wounded a man of about 30 whom they caught halfway across the Wall in the American sector; some bullets hit a house on the West Berlin side.
20 July 1973 – 21 July 1973
Klaus Gomert at the Ludwig-Jahn-Sportpark – shot at, arrested, then expelled to the West
In the night of 19–20 July 1973 East Berlin border guards fired bursts at a person presumably trying to escape by the Ludwig-Jahn-Sportpark. On 21 July East Berlin police released 18-year-old Klaus Gomert to West Berlin, and ADN claimed he was the would-be escaper – Gomert contradicted parts of the East German account.
25 September 1973
Thirty rounds at four escapers opposite Kohlhasenbrück
On the evening of 25 September 1973 East German border guards fired about thirty rounds at four people apparently trying to cross into the American sector opposite Kohlhasenbrück. The four were led away; several bullets hit apartments on the West Berlin side.
13 October 1974
Felled by a single aimed shot opposite Neukölln
On a Sunday afternoon in October 1974 West Berlin police watched a young man approach the Wall opposite Neukölln. An East German guard knelt and brought him down with one aimed shot; he was carried away, apparently wounded.
21 November 1975
Thirty rounds near the Waßmannsdorfer Chaussee
On the evening of 21 November 1975 two Kreuzberg residents saw an East German guard fire about 30 rounds from an automatic weapon at an unarmed man apparently trying to cross from the Schönefeld area into the American sector. He lay still for ten minutes before a military vehicle took him away.
10 September 1986
A car rams the closed gate at Drewitz
At about 2.20 a.m. two people drove a car into a closed gate at the Drewitz crossing. Guards fired warning shots and arrested both, as lorry drivers arriving in West Berlin reported.
18 August 1987
Dogs, three shots and an arrest at the Sonnenallee crossing
Early on 18 August 1987 West Berlin police and customs officers at the Sonnenallee crossing heard dogs barking and three shots on the East Berlin side, then saw border guards lead away a man who had tried to escape. The three Western commandants protested the use of force.
14 February 1989
Martin Notev is dragged back out of the Spree at the West Berlin bank
Martin Notev and two young neighbours smashed through the barriers with a truck and jumped into the Spree near the Reichstag. The neighbours escaped; Notev was pulled back by the hair from the West Berlin quay wall by a GDR patrol boat crew.
